Posted!

Join the Conversation

Comments

Welcome to our new and improved comments, which are for subscribers only.
This is a test to see whether we can improve the experience for you.
You do not need a Facebook profile to participate.

You will need to register before adding a comment.
Typed comments will be lost if you are not logged in.

Please be polite.
It's OK to disagree with someone's ideas, but personal attacks, insults, threats, hate speech, advocating violence and other violations can result in a ban.
If you see comments in violation of our community guidelines, please report them.

Pensacola ethics law scrutinized

In a new chapter of the wrangling between Pensacola City Council and Mayor Ashton Hayward, the panel is pressing for a legal change that would smooth the path for public records requests from the municipality.

The council has agreed to vote Thursday night on an amendment to the city’s Ethics Ordinance specifying that employees aren’t allowed to question the motives of anyone who requests public documents.

Authored by Council Member Sherri Myers, the amendment passed uncontested Monday in a meeting by the group to set the agenda for Thursday’s vote. There was little discussion about the proposal, and Councilmember Charles Bare told the News Journal he expects it to be supported by most, if not all, of his colleagues.

The amendment stated that city officials and employees must not respond to records request in any way that might have a “chilling impact on a person’s constitutional and statutory right to inspect and copy records.”

Further, the proposal states, that no public official may respond to a public records request by bullying, intimidating, harassing or making inquiries into why a person is requesting records.

Myers said she has received complaints from constituents about delays of several weeks when making records requests.

Tamara Fountain, an assistant to Hayward, said the amendment isn’t needed.

“The city already complies completely with public record laws,” she said. “If someone phoned and identified themselves as Daffy Duck and asked for public records, we wouldn’t ask, ‘Well, Daffy, why do you want them?’ We would make every effort to comply with their request and the law.”

The amendment proposal comes a month after the council voted in favor of putting an amendment on the Pensacola City Charter that would add the mayor to the list of public officials who are subject to recall by voters. That amendment is scheduled to be on the November election ballot.